Andrews graduate turns early auto interest into business career plan

Before McKayla Kushner ever got a driver’s license, she was already learning how to build a future in auto work. At Andrews High School, the Guilford County Schools graduate left with an automotive certification and a clear plan to pair hands-on mechanical skills with a business degree from Salem College in Winston-Salem.

Kushner’s path started in middle school, when she and classmates toured an auto body shop and saw girls working on motorcycles through an early college program. That visit changed how she saw the industry. After moving to High Point at the end of eighth grade, she heard about Andrews’ auto program at Welborn Middle School and kept following that opportunity until it became a real career track. She does not yet drive a car, but she already feels confident working on one, a detail that captures the practical arc of her story: technical ability came first, and the license can come later.

Her training did not stop in the classroom. Last summer, Kushner completed a paid internship with the Guilford County Schools Transportation Department, where she learned to work on buses and confirmed that she wanted to keep building a future in automotive work. For Guilford County, that kind of experience matters because it links school-based career and technical education to a working fleet, a local employer and a skills pipeline that can lead directly to jobs, certifications and income. It also shows how local public schools can turn an early interest into marketable experience before graduation.

At Salem College, Kushner plans to major in business administration so she can eventually open her own auto shop. Salem says the major combines pre-professional preparation with a liberal arts foundation, and its coursework can include accounting, business ethics, business law, business statistics, computer applications, economics, finance, management, marketing and mathematics. Business administration students can complete core courses entirely online or in person, with co-curricular experiences built around workplace readiness and community engagement. Salem also launched an online Business Administration option in fall 2025, giving students another path to fit college around work and other responsibilities.

Kushner’s story is more than a graduation milestone. It is a snapshot of how Guilford County’s skilled-trades pipeline can start with one shop visit, move through school programs and internships, and end with a student ready to run a business of her own.